[R-G] Polls on the Afghan War -- A Majority Support It

[Yoshie Furuhashi]

Till recently, the anti-war movement (such as it is) in the United
States, much like other social movements here, had been more or less a
one-issue movement strongly focused on the Iraq War, to which the
issue of the Israeli occupation had been occasionally added.  War
drums against Iran have become so loud over the last couple of years
that anti-war activists have begun to take more actions to prevent
military attacks on Iran, actions that, due in part to US military and
economic troubles (high oil prices especially), can claim some
successes: creating the public opinion in favor of diplomacy and
stalling H.Con.Res 362 in particular.

But support for the Afghan War remains high:
<http://www.pollingreport.com/afghan.htm>.  A majority of Americans
say that going to war against Afghanistan was the right decision and
that we must fight that war to "win."

Obama is likely to become the next POTUS:
<http://www.pollingreport.com/wh08gen.htm>.  Whether or not he wins
the elections, Afghanistan is an issue on which there exists most
agreement between the two candidates:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjQEwdkqgDU>.  What is likely to
happen after the elections is just a reshuffling of troops, rather
than an end to the Iraq War.  Besides, that's the direction in which
the Bush administration is already going.  Moreover, Washington is
beginning to treat Afghanistan and Pakistan (starting with the
provinces that border on the former) as a single unified theater.

The US military remaining tied up with Iraq and expanding its presence
in Afghanistan and making incursions into Pakistan may let the Iranian
people take a breather, for that means that opening another front will
remain impossible; at the same time, it means that the US military
presence both to the West and East of Iran will not only not go away
but also may be overall increasing in the near future.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/22/world/asia/22tribal.html>
July 22, 2008
Unilateral Action by U.S. a Growing Fear in Pakistan
By JANE PERLEZ

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Strong suggestions by the United States that it
could resort to unilateral intervention against Al Qaeda and the
Taliban in Pakistan are generating increasing anxiety in the Pakistani
press and among government officials, who warn that such an action
could backfire.

<http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/29/world/29prexy.html>
July 29, 2008
Bush Praises Pakistan Just Hours After U.S. Strike
By STEVEN LEE MYERS

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday praised Pakistan's commitment to
fighting extremists along its deteriorating border with Afghanistan,
only hours after an American missile strike destroyed what American
and Pakistani officials described as a militant outpost in the region,
killing at least six fighters.